Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Tomorrow
Night (Jan. 25th)
on the Creepercast... get your thinking cap on folks because its time
to get schooled! Zombies
101: Lesson 1 – Origins, VooDoo and Re-animation! With
philosophical discussions about White
Zombie (1932), Serpent in the Rainbow (1988) & Frankenstein
(2004). See the syllabus below or it is posted in the notes area of our facebook page
(http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=341020252589019)!
Join us Wednesday night @ 9pm MT/8 PT/11ET immediately following the
Walking Dead Week in Review Fancast @ www.creepercast.com/live!

Zombies 101

A study of the zombie
phenomena in culture and as a film genre:

Lesson 1 Syllabus

Origination – Voodoo and
Re-Animation

On the Creepercast we will be
discussing primarily the films in bold and their impact/influence on
culture and the genre as a whole. This syllabus is reference
material. Eventually I hope to it will grow into a well put together
college course for any film studies program!

Definition of 'zombie':

Miriam Webster
(http://www.merriam-webster.com):

zom-bienoun
\'zäm-bē\

usually zombi

a person held to resemble the
so-called walking dead; especially:automaton

a machine or control mechanism
designed to follow automatically a predetermined sequence of
operations or respond to encoded instructions

an individual who acts in a
mechanical fashion

Latin, from Greek, neuter of automatos

First Known Use: 1645

robot

a machine that looks like a human
being and performs various complex acts (as walking or talking) of a
human being; also: a similar but
fictional machine whose lack of capacity for human emotions is often
emphasized

an efficient insensitive person
who functions automatically

a device that automatically
performs complicated often repetitive tasks

a mechanism guided by automatic
controls

Czech, from robota compulsory labor;
akin to Old High German arabeit trouble, Latin orbus orphaned —
more at orphan

First Known Use: 1922

Encyclopedia Britannica:

zombi, also spelled zombie, in Vodou, a dead
person who is revived after burial and compelled to do the bidding
of the reviver, including criminal acts and heavy manual labor.
Scholars believe that actual zombis are living persons under the
influence of powerful drugs, including burundanga
(reportedly used by Colombian criminals) and drugs derived from
poisonous toads and puffer fish.
(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/657810/zombi)

Bad Voodoo: The distinctions between good and bad supernatural power
are relative and depend on how moral legitimacy is judged. This
becomes clear when the spiritual power invoked is studied more
closely. In a number of revealing African cases, the word that
denotes the essence of witchcraft (e.g., tsau among the
West African Tiv and itonga among the East African Safwa), the
epitome of illegitimate antisocial activity, also describes the
righteous wrath of established authority, employed to curse
wrongdoers. This essential ambivalence is particularly evident in
Haitian voodoo, where there is a sharp distinction between man-made
evil magic powers, connected with zombies (beings identified as
familiars of witches in the beliefs of some African cultures), and
benevolent invisible spirits identified with Catholic saints. This
antithesis between witchcraft and religion, however, is always
problematic: after his death, the malevolent spirits or powers that
an ancestor has used for his personal benefit become accrued by his
descendants’ protective spirits (loas). Magic has thus turned into
religion (the converse of the more familiar process in which
outmoded religions are stigmatized by their successors as magic).
(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/646051/witchcraft/214882/Witchcraft-in-Africa-and-the-world?anchor=ref703868)

Director:
Victor Halperin, 1932. This movie is on video and has a running
time of 73 min. " Now we understand each other a little
better", says Bela Lugosi, as he turns his rival into one of
his eerie slaves. This, by no means, is one of his more
well-known lines from a movie; but after seeing this film, I am
convinced that it has to be one of his most sinister quotes.
Lugosi plays the evil overseer of a sugarmill, who turns his
workers into zombies to do his dirty work. White Zombie is a
wonderful low-budget flick, with wonderful background settings
that add to the eeriness of the film. For the most part, the
zombies are mindless creatures that would not have hurt anybody,
if it had not been for Lugosi. So, they really do not add to any
of the misconceptions that Americans have about Voodoo. The few
Haitians we do see in the film are burying one of their dead.
None of them are depicted as being evil. The real big
"misconception" in the film is a carved Voodoo doll.
Iam under the impression that they do not exist. As one last note
on the film; the way that Lugosi turned his victims into zombies,
was to give them a special powder that would feign death. He
would then go and get the body, giving it another concoction.
Perhaps Victor Halperin was Wade Davis' "secret society."
(Willey)

Director: Wes Craven, 1988. This project is on video, with a
running time of 98 min. "In the legends of Voodoo, the
serpent is a symbol of Earth, the rainbow is a symbol of heaven.
Between the two, all creatures live and die. But because he has a
goal, man can be trapped in a terrible place, where death is only
the beginning."

Director:
Marcus Nispel, 2004. This movie is on video and has a running
time of 88 min. Two hundred years after Mary Shelley's
novel the brilliant but mad Doctor has sustained his creature
and himself over two centuries through genetic experimentation.
In present-day America Detective O'Connor is investigating a
series of horrific murders which leads her to the doctor and his
creature. What she uncovers reveals the strange evolution the
doctor and his creation undergo over the course of two centuries
and the divergent paths creator and monster take in pursuing
good or evil.

Friday, January 20, 2012

One of the
noteworthy sci-fi flicks due to hit theaters eventually is M. Night
Shyamalan’s After Earth:
an original project that actually sounds pretty promising, despite
the fact that its director’s name has become synonymous with
“hack,” as far as many moviegoers are concerned.

After Earth follows
a father and son (played by real-life father-son duo Will and Jaden
Smith) on an adventure that unfolds after the two are stranded on a
futuristic version of planet Earth, abandoned by humanity some
thousand years ago. The supporting cast already includes
Oscar-nominee Sophie Okonedo (X-men: First Class) and Zoë Kravitz
(Doctor Who). from ScreenRant

By now everyone knows my
hatred for Shyamalama-ding-dong-dammit. Yet, I still subject myself
to his ridiculous tweeesty creations. The main problem with this one
is it “sounds pretty promising.” Isn't that the reason we have
fallen for everything the man has done? Does he ever deliver? Will
this movie benefit from the Smith's involvement? I have gone on
record saying the best M. Night movies had Bruce Willis in them.
Could Will be the new Bruce? As always I will hope that “promising”
means something and end up seeing this movie despite the realization
that that it 'promises' to let me down. Or maybe that's why I do it.
Check out my review of 'Devil'
or listen to just about any episode of the Creepercast to get
an idea of how I really feel about Mr. Shyamalama!~

The Devil Inside...
Again

‘The Devil Inside’ director and
writer pair, William Brent Bell and Matthew Peterman, are readying
yet another installment in the ‘found footage’ genre. Is the
untitled film something new or a ‘Devil Inside’ sequel? Nobody
knows for sure but it will again found footage style and filmed in
Romania. Sounds like sequel to me.

It’s no surprise to hear
that the pair is moving fast, especially considering that most box
office experts are expecting a major drop-off for The Devil Inside in
the coming week – due to negative word of mouth and the
unenthusiastic response of the critical community. However,
regardless of the film’s reception, it managed to do big bucks on a
$1 million budget – making the pair an attractive prospect for
Hollywood executives.

The film is set for
financing through Sierra/Affinity and the Incentive Filmed
Entertainment Fund with Peterman as well as Steven Schneider
(Paranormal Activity, Insidious) and Morris Paulson (The Devil
Inside) producing – and Bell, Peterman, and Paulson’s company,
Prototype, handling production. The film is set to start work in
Romania this April – though no storylines or potential cast members
have been revealed at this point. from SreenRant

I will reserve most of my
comments for the review of 'The Devil Inside'
in the next couple days. What I will say is found footage films are
in a great abundance right now its starting to get boring. As for
this one here's a review teaser...

My Synopsis: Take every
exorcism movie you have ever seen and add a documentary crew!~

Dexter
Season 9?

Showtime President of Entertainment,
David Nevins on Dexter...

“[Season 8] is the likely endpoint,
but I’m leaving open the possibility that plans could change [...]
I think there’s a very clear trajectory now of where they’re
going. I think it’s going to help to write with that endgame in
mind. I’ve been pushing to shake up the formula a little bit. I
think there should be fundamentally different dynamics now.” from ScreenRant

Season 8 is supposed to
be the end of Dexter. But that is not to say they aren't considering
a season 9 with all the craziness and added dimensions to Dexter's
story currently. But all this really proves is that the powers that
be behind Dexter have learned how to mess with our minds like the
great people of Supernatural. Damn them!~

The Twilight Games

Summit Entertainment (The Twilight
Saga) and Lionsgate (Mad Men, The Hunger Games) have merged. Find out
the details of the deal, and what it may mean for the TV/Movie
industry.

So what we have is
two minor studios that have seen a moderate amount of success in
recent years combining forces to bigger and better things. Aside from
the aforementioned Hunger Games franchise, Lionsgate has had moderate
success in both TV (with shows like Mad Men, Weeds, and Tyler Perry’s
House of Payne) and movies (The Lincoln Lawyer, The Expendables,
Precious, Kick-Ass and several Tyler Perry films). Aside from
Twilight, Summit’s success has been regulated to a few breakout
films, including Red, The Hurt Locker, Source Code, and current
awards contender, 50/50. Hopefully smaller studios like these will
result in some bigger risks that offer us more original TV/Movie
ideas- rather than the string of remakes, reboots,
and brand-established fare we’ve been getting in the last few
years.” from ScreenRant

Over the last few decades
Lionsgate have proven to be a powerhouse all by themselves. They've
taken chances on many things the major studios wouldn't touch and
received much success for doing so, especially when it comes to films
from the Horror and SciFi genre. Summit has taken quite a gamble
itself in the last decade with films like Red and the multi-billion
dollar success of the vampire/werewolf/human triangle Twilight. One
can only hope that a merger of this magnitude will incite others to
take more chances on new and original film ideas like this article
says. Hopefully it doesn't mean Lionsgate/Summit will get sucked into
the maelstrom and start cranking out remake/reboots themselves.~

Score!

Golden Globe for
Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series: Jessica Lange in FX’s
American Horror Story from ScreenRant

One of the greatest women
in Tv/Film and the only nod this year to the horror genre.~

This movie is labeled a
crime/drama/mystery and yet seems to be getting a lot of nods from
Horror reviewers. Which means we may have to give it consideration.
Since our definition of horror is often based on any part of the film
containing essential elements, who knows for sure. Being a purist,
though, I will of course watch the Denmark original first and then
likely criticize the American version for messing with the story to
much. Look for a review soon!
~